Movements Are a Collective Responsibility and We All Have a Role to Play, Says #MeToo Founder and Activist Tarana Burke at Brooklyn College’s 94th Commencement Ceremony

Civil rights activist Tarana Burke gave the keynote address and accepted an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, presented by Brooklyn College President Michelle J. Anderson at the 2019 Commencement Ceremony, held at the Barclays Center in Downtown Brooklyn May 30. The founder of the #MeToo movement emphasized the need for people to create movements based on working collectively.

“There is an expectation that you will leverage the privilege that the degrees you received today afford you toward the edification and empowerment of your folks,” said Burke. “You should not only be using it for your individual success but it should be used toward the liberation of folks who look like you and live like you and love you. Movements aren’t built by just trained activists and professional organizers. They are built by everyday people with made up minds that they can change and will affect change. We need to build our communities collectively and make the challenges our own. We all have a role to play. Everyone won’t be on the front line, but we all can help not just hold the line, but move it forward.”

A 2017 Time magazine Person of the Year, Burke is also the founder of the nonprofit organization Just Be, Inc. and has been dedicated to helping vulnerable communities put an end to socioeconomic injustice and sexual violence for decades. In 2006, Burke began using the phrase “me too” to draw attention to the pervasiveness of sexual abuse and assault in a society that often ignores or penalizes survivors of such crimes, and to assure these survivors that they were not alone and could find healing in safer spaces in the community. In 2014, Burke was a consultant for Oscar-nominated director Ava DuVernay’s 2014 hit Hollywood film, Selma, based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches led by James Bevel, Hosea Williams, Martin Luther King Jr., and John Lewis.

“Be bold, be visible, be brave, be authentic, be you,” Burke said in conclusion. “Every version of you is important and needed for us to win.”

The Class of 2019 was one of the largest in the borough, with more than 4,300 graduates—3,097 baccalaureate, 1,183 master's, and 61 Advanced Certificate students. The very diverse body of scholars come from more than 125 countries and speak more than 80 languages. Approximately 98 members of the class identify as disabled, and 53 students are veterans or currently enlisted in the U.S. military. President Anderson highlighted the college’s diversity as its great strength, enhancing the academic experience for everyone.

“Our graduating students here today are prepared to go out into the world and assume challenging positions of leadership,” said Anderson, “not only because they are the beneficiaries of a great education but also the tutelage of excellent professors and they have benefited from the diversity of our student body, which makes them interculturally competent and conversant across difference.” 

This year's recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award, Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning actor and activist Jimmy Smits ’80, spoke of today’s challenging times requiring fresh new ideas. “The country is entrusting you with a giant ball of issues to help unravel. It is your turn, not just to turn the tassels. As college graduates, you are an essential part of the change that is already taking place in the vanguard of our future. Your presence here today erases apathy and ignorance with leadership and knowledge for the betterment of our community, our nation and our world,” said Smits.

With a stellar career that spans more than three decades, Smits has starred in some of the most popular films, plays, and television shows in history, including films in the Star Wars franchise, Anna in the Tropics, L.A. Law, NYPD Blue, The West Wing, and Sons of Anarchy. At Brooklyn College, he performed in a number of plays, including Of Mice and Men, Othello, and Everyman. Smits’ first big network television role was in 1984 on the hit NBC series Miami Vice. His big-screen debut came two years later in the Gregory Hines/Billy Crystal film Running Scared. Soon after, Smits landed a starring role on the hit NBC show L.A. Law, for which he received seven Emmy Award nominations, winning in 1990 for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.

“If I were given the ability today to instill one thing in you, it would be perseverance—fall down, feel the fall, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and you try again,” said Smits. “You give everything your best shot, and once you have, you live with the results. The thing that I hope the most for all of you is something easily achieved: Be good people. Be decent and helpful, and think of others before you think of yourself because the rewards that will come back to you will be limitless.”

The valedictorian of the Class of 2019, Salvatore Casto, spoke of a solution to a better tomorrow: “A study from the Pew Research Center finds that this current generation promises to be the most diverse in history along with having higher percentages of college graduates than ever before. The political pressures placed upon this graduating class are immense. The power and diversity we share must be used to systematically change how we perceive and accept differences. And we do so by engaging. Witnessing. Creating. Deconstructing. Listening. And, instead of ignoring, embracing.”

Other distinguished guests included Senator Chuck Schumer, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, members of the Brooklyn College 50th Anniversary Class of 1969, the Brooklyn College Foundation Board of Trustees, and the Brooklyn College Alumni Association.

Commencement Webcast

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